(OOC: To accommodate recent, relevant additions to the Drew/Connor thread in Cetus - which occurred chronologically before this theater thread - please assume that in her last post here, Claudia also made mention of Connor proving to be unsuitable as a companion when listing the reasons her year has been terrible. Fuzzytime is not without its pitfalls.)

Claudia enjoyed having make up applied. She liked experiencing the varying textures of the products and applicators against her skin, and she revelled in being doted upon. She didn’t always like to converse during beauty treatments, but as she was feeling a little out of sorts herself, she didn’t mind Holland providing a receptive ear to her sorrows. “What happened with Marley?” Holland asked, selecting a brush. “She told me about the arguments related to Connor. Did something else happen more recently?”

“Well, yes,” Claudia said, a little uneasily. Talking about this sort of thing was strictly not in her comfort zone. Nothing about today was in her comfort zone. “She’s gone on a date,” the third year started to explain. That in its own was not wholly improper, as Claudia herself had participated in several organised, unchaperoned rendez-vous with Connor, before she had discovered, with great disappointment, that he was not who she’d thought he was. It was the specifics of the scenario that made Marley’s date unsuitable: “with another girl” - she emphasised the word as though it were evil - “in our year.” It wasn’t fair of Claudia to bring Teal into the discussion. Strictly, none of it was Claudia’s business, and she wouldn’t be discussing it at all, except Holland had asked why things were so terrible. If Marley didn’t want to be spoken about, she ought not to cause scandal. Of course, by that logic, Teal was at even greater fault for proposing the offensive arrangement. Nevertheless, Claudia was not a gossip. This was not about Teal, with whom Claudia had not built a strong friendship, but about Marley.

“And I’m sure you heard about the commotion with Drew in Cetus,” she surmised, as she had already overheard Heather Bartel talking about it, which meant that probably the whole school knew by now. As the blonde had explained to Connor, she was not comfortable with his racist attitude. She did not support name calling in any circumstance, but most importantly she had believed that Connor had a sense of propriety. Claudia was not perfect - she allowed her emotions to get the better of her from time to time - but never would she even consider shouting personal slurs across a common room or engaging in an exchange of physical blows (although Connor had been adamant he was more of a recipient than a participant in the latter, Claudia could not ignore his involvement, nor deny that he had provoked the attack upon his person). It was with great regret but equal righteousness that she was forced to terminate their exclusive friendship agreement.

Today, Holland was really feeling that double eyeliner was the way to go. They weren’t there yet, but black and turquoise would look really nice with Claudia’s outfit. The third-year seemed to prefer ... more

Ah, yes. Holland was very aware that Marley was going on a date. They were aware because when they’d gotten back to Lyra after Ancient Runes one day, Marley had been waiting outside their door. She... more

“Why does that mean you and Marley can’t be friends anymore?” Holland asked. As often happened when someone questioned her about her beliefs, Claudia experienced an instinctive reaction, rather than... more

Holland, admittedly, had had similar thoughts related to Marley’s date with Teal. The younger Lyra had said that she liked Teal but wasn’t sure whether she like-liked her, but regardless that boys... more

When Holland talked, they never sounded condescending or patronizing, even when they were telling Claudia something new (as happened often, because they mostly talked about make-up, and Claudia had... more

Holland hadn’t meant to break Claudia by introducing her to the concept of plurisexuality, but it seemed for a moment that they had. How could Claudia be a teenager and not know that people could be... more

Closing her eyes and saying nothing while Holland continued to apply her make-up was very soothing for Claudia. It had been an especially tumultuous second part of the year, and perhaps she’d been... more

“It might,” Holland agreed. There was some risk of pain attached to doing most things, and that didn’t make those things not worth doing. Marley’s intentions weren’t to hurt Teal; Holland had always... more

Risk was a very personal concept. Claudia was taking a risk today with her statement dress and make up, but the risk was low: most people probably wouldn’t notice the change in her look, and of the... more

Holland chose the red lipstick—if you wanted to make a statement, why speak quietly?—and offered it to Claudia to apply. She had the lighted wall-mounted mirror to use in guiding her application of... more

Holland handed Claudia a red lipstick. It wasn’t a shade she would have chosen for herself, but Claudia trusted Holland’s judgment on make-up, if nothing else. She took it and turned to the mirror,... more